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41 N.C. L. Rev. 67 (1962-1963)
Tenancy by the Entirety in North Carolina

handle is hein.journals/nclr41 and id is 85 raw text is: TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY IN NORTH CAROLINA* ROBERT E. LEEf NATURE OF TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY Where real property is conveyed by deed or by will to two persons who are at the time husband and wife, a tenancy by the entirety is created. Sometimes it is referred to as an estate by the entirety. The husband and wife take the whole estate as one person. Each has the whole; neither has a separate estate or interest; but the survivor, whether husband or wife, is entitled to the entire estate, and the right of the survivor cannot be defeated by the other's conveyance of the property by deed or will to a stranger. The title to the land cannot be conveyed during the existence of the marriage without the signature of both the husband and the wife. Neither tenant can defeat or in any way affect the right of survivorship of the other. Each spouse is considered as the owner of the entire estate because of the common law fiction of the unity of husband and wife-a unity of the person.' Davis v. Bass,2 decided in 1924, is the magna charta on the estate by the entirety in North Carolina. In an excellent opinion, Chief Justice Stacy described this anomalous estate and concisely stated its incidents. Quoting from the opinion of Chief Justice Stacy, the Supreme Court of North Carolina in 1955, in describing this estate, said: * This article is adapted from a chapter of the author's forthcoming trea- tise on North Carolina Family Law, to be published in the spring of 1963 by Michie Co. t Professor of Law, Wake Forest College. 'Lanier v. Dawes, 255 N.C. 458, 121 S.E.2d 857 (1961); Edwards v. Arnold, 250 N.C. 500, 109 S.E.2d 205 (1959); Woolard v. Smith, 244 N.C. 489, 94 S.E.2d 466 (1956); Nesbitt v. Fairview Farms, Inc., 239 N.C. 481, 80 S.E.2d 472 (1954) ; First Nat'l Bank v. Hall, 201 N.C. 787, 161 S.E. 484 (1931); Davis v. Bass, 188 N.C. 200, 124 S.E. 566 (1924); Freeman v. Bel- fer, 173 N.C. 581, 92 S.E. 486 (1917); Motley v. Whitemore, 19 N.C. 537 (1837). For a general discussion of tenanciks by the entirety, see 26 Am. Jur, Husband and Wife §§ 66-86 (1940); 2 AMERICAN LAW OF PROPERTY §§ 6.5-6.6 (1952) ; 41 C.J.S., Husband atfd Wife §§ 33, 34 (1944) ; MADDEN, PERSONS AND DOmESTIc RELATIONS § 45 (1931) ; 4 POWELL, REAL PROPERTY §§ 615-19 (1954) ; 2 THrOMPSPN, REAL PROPERTY §§ 1784-792 (repl. 1961); Phipps, Tenancies by Entireties, 25 TEMPLE L.Q. 24 (1951); Annot., 141 A.L.R. 179 (1942). 'Supra, note 1.

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